


An Empty Sky

by leshna



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Crisis of Faith, Friendship, Loss of Faith, M/M, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Regional At Best Era, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 00:31:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18083921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leshna/pseuds/leshna
Summary: A snapshot of the moment Tyler realized he no longer needed to entertain his faith.





	An Empty Sky

**Author's Note:**

> I envisioned this as set during the Regional at Best era, but you can picture it however you want.
> 
> No disrespect intended to anyone involved or faith in general.

“No, but really… If not for a god, then how can anything have come from nothing?”

Tyler’s face was tilted up at the night sky like there were visible stars in it. There weren’t. I briefly wondered if his eyes were even open, or if he was focusing completely on our voices. We had to have been doing this for hours by now, lying on our backs in the dark and talking in quiet voices about how I had let go of my faith. It was a subject we rarely breached, but tonight was different. I felt like his guard was starting to come down for the first time.

“We believe the same thing,” I said. “You believe that there has always been something. First, there was God, and then He created everything else. I believe that first, there was energy, and energy became matter, and that matter existed naturally until it became something else. Either way, we agree that there has never been nothing. There was never a time when the universe began.”

“I’m still not sold,” he said. “If there isn’t a god, then why do I feel one?”

That feeling was all too familiar to me. I rolled onto my side and looked at him.

“You know, I was terrified of losing that feeling,” I told him. “I thought the day I realize there is no god would be the day I realize that everything is empty. I thought the floor would crumble beneath me. And you know what happened?”

“What?”

“I realized I’d been floating for years. I had been pretending there was something to stand on and holding myself up at the same time. When I finally admitted that, I felt freer than I had in a very long time.”

He took a deep breath. “But...what if I have a floor? What if I’m not like you?”

I smiled. “Then you’ll never have that moment,” I said, “and you will continue to stand.”

“I’m not sure I am standing,” he breathed.

“Then welcome to the club of free-floating people! We’re glad to have you.”

I met his brown eyes and watched the weight of the world begin to lift from his shoulders.

“Yeah,” he said, “I guess… Yeah. I’m guess I’m there.”


End file.
